Inference, interpretive strategies, and strategic interpretation a reading of wittgensteins tractatus logico philosophicus and philosophical investigation

The reading focuses on Wittgenstein's reevaluation of logical reasoning, his refutation of Russell's theory of types, and his concepts of logical atomism, the picture theory of language,

Alia Abbas Mohammed Hassan Mabrouk

Faculty of Languages and Translation

Ahram Canadian University

Cairo, Egypt

ABSTRACT

Wittgenstein's analytic enterprise represents a major intellectual challenge for the philosophy

of science and for a variety of humanistic disciplines Reconstructing the epistemic fabric of logic and problematizing the nature of reasoning and argumentation, Wittgenstein's intellectual stance compels theorists and critics to revise their methods of argumentation and of making inferences, and forces them

to question the validity of the techniques used in textual exegesis The aim of this paper is to offer a reading of Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus and Philosophical Investigations that represent the fulcrum of his thought The reading focuses on Wittgenstein's reevaluation of logical reasoning, his refutation of Russell's theory of types, and his concepts of logical atomism, the picture theory of language, and language-games The paper also investigates the impact of Wittgenstein's thought on the process of interpretation of texts, and how his thought sets an example of how interpretive strategies should proceed without a priori assumptions or transcendental hypothesizing Refusing a whole gamut of idealist, rationalist, and empiricist techniques used to verbalize reality and offer interpretations of a state of affairs, Wittgenstein calls for interpretive strategies – and not a strategic or codified interpretation – that are not enclosed on a set of stable signifieds and that do not emanate from preplanned strategies

Keywords: Inference, Theory of Types, Logical Atomism, Picture Theory of Language, Language Games, Interpretation

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The paper received on Reviewed on Accepted after revisions on

07/01/2021 08/02/2021 23/03/2021

Suggested citation:

Mabrouk, A (2021) Inference, Interpretive Strategies, and Strategic Interpretation: A Reading of Wittgenstein's

Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus and Philosophical Investigation International Journal of English Language & Translation Studies 9(1) 25-33.

1 Introduction

Wittgenstein's analytic philosophy is

a philosophy that has challenged the

premises and the intellectual inevitabilities

of a whole gamut of transcendental idealistic

philosophies, continental philosophy,

rationalist philosophies, and empiricism

Taking into consideration the fact that the

archaeology(1) of our knowledge and our

system of representation are governed by

rules that transcend the rules of grammar

and logic, Wittgenstein's analytic approach

revisits and questions the actual mode of

being of both grammar and logic Influenced

by Bertrand Russell's analytic approach,

Wittgenstein, in his early stages, saw that all

our intellectual impasses and logical

paradoxes can be solved if the ambiguities

of logic and grammar are resolved For

Wittgenstein, philosophy should start with

an exploration of the nature of a proposition,

and philosophers "can render a genuine

service by carefully unraveling complex

use of language, ]because[ scientific language contained ambiguities of logic, which required clarification " (Fieser, 2020,

P 439)

The intellectual deadlock, that represents a real challenge in the history of philosophy, is that gap that exists between what can be expressed through our language – through our system of representation – and what can be thought but cannot be expressed and communicated within the contours of this system of representation Throughout the history of philosophical thought, this gap – or, in other words, the interstitial space between what can be said and what cannot

be – has been approached by all the intellectual and humanistic disciplines Cartesian rationalism has proved that perception can be misled and deceived, and, hence, it was renounced as an untrustworthy tool for verbalizing truth and formulating knowledge The Cartesian Cogito with its internal light of reason has, thus, imposed

knowledge In addition to Descartes's

Cogito, Kantian a priori synthetic method is

another rationalist attempt at approaching

the aforementioned gap Kant's empirical –

transcendental subject has been announced

as capable of – through the power of his

pure reason – assimilating all a priori

conditions and articulating all a posteriori

conclusions The Cartesian Cogito and the

Kantian subjective – objective doublet are,

however, entangled within a web of

linguistic intricacies that determine the

framework through which knowledge is

communicated They are prone to be misled

by seemingly correct and well-written

propositions and forms of reasoning

The starting point, thus, for analytic

philosophy has been to look at the infinite

possibilities that can spring from a definite

set of finite rules These rules and the

infinite possibilities they yield, however,

cannot impede the hermeneutic urge of the

human mind Within the framework of

analytic philosophy, a priori reasoning is not

admitted, and, as a result, a whole body of

concepts that have long been taken for

granted have been problematized

Elementary propositions, for analytic

philosophers, could be true or false, and, as a

result, the nature of belief and justification is

radically destabilized, or, rather,

deterritorialized(2) In Perspectives on the

Philosophy of Wittgenstein, Block refers to

Wittgenstein's remark in the Tractatus: "the

sense of a proposition is independent of its

truth and therefore elementary propositions

could be true or false " (Block, 1983, P Vii)

Assuming that an elementary

proposition could be a false one, an analytic

philosopher confronts the dilemma of having

concepts such as, belief, coherence,

meaning, inference, and reasoning put under

erasure According to Audi, "even

well-grounded beliefs can be mistaken " (Audi,

2005,P 8) And, as a result, the whole

epistemic relations and the nature of belief

should be revisited Recognizing the limits

of the human mind, as has been asserted

earlier by David Hume, analytic philosophy

has allowed theorists and intellectuals to

reevaluate the nature of belief and inference,

the phenomenology of perception, and the

role of imagery in memory and

introspection It is not the responsibility of

philosophy, thus, to act as a science that

endows us with clear-cut answers for all

epistemological inquiries According to

Hutto, analytic philosophers "steadfastly

object to those conceptions of philosophy

that model it on some kind of knowledge-supplying science " (Hutto, 2014, P 617)

In Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, Wittgenstein postulates that the problems of philosophy can be solved if the logical structure of propositions is clarified He offers much more complex forms of reasoning and dwells on the internal complexities of the premises we use Mind bending as it is, the Tractatus enlarges the scope of logic and frees it from all forms of

a priori reasoning Wittgenstein illustrates that "nothing in the province of logic can be merely possible Logic deals with every possibility and all possibilities are its facts " (in the Tractatus, 2.0121, 6) Influenced by Bertrand Russell, Wittgenstein considers the picture theory of meaning as one of the logical tools that can solve the enigmatic nature of language For him, every word should correspond to a mental image in our minds This reciprocal relation between every word and its corresponding reality is what Wittgenstein, still influenced by Russell's intellectual approach, refers to as logical atomism(3) It is the logical method of analysis that separates entities into their different constituent parts, as opposed to holism that looks at entities as finally corresponding to lines of inevitability

Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations is a complete about-face Through the use of aphorisms, Wittgenstein reacts against Russell's analytic approach, and, also, against his own views concerning the picture theory of meaning and logical atomism, and endeavours to create a kind of logic and a philosophical method that can meet our realistic needs According to Fieser, Wittgenstein, in the Investigations,

"shifted his plan of analysis from a preoccupation with logic and the construction of a ʻperfectʼ language to the study of the ordinary usages of language " (Fieser, 2020, P 452) Thus, instead of investigating the mutual relations between words and their corresponding reality, Wittgenstein introduces language games as another important factor in determining meaning He argues that a word has meaning only as a result of the rule of the game being played Language is immersed into rules that can, sometimes, defy the body of logical rules, and can, actually, change our cognitive apparatus

The present paper aims at offering a reading of Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus and Philosophical Investigations, considered as masterpieces in

the history of logical and philosophical

inquiry Wittgenstein's analytic logic has

actually represented an intellectual challenge

for the philosophy of science and for

humanistic disciplines His method of

reading reality and analyzing language

problematizes the process of interpretation,

in general, and the process of offering

literary and aesthetic interpretation of artistic

works, in particular The fact that

Wittgenstein has pinpointed many logical

paradoxes in our philosophical heritage has

actually complicated the strategies of

interpretation and questioned the

epistemological fabric out of which the

process of interpretation emanates Negating

the validity of a priori hypothesizing and

questioning the credibility of the

empirical-transcendental subject, Wittgenstein has –

indirectly – directed the process of

interpretation to opt for interpretive

strategies that do not rely on preconceived

notions, and that seek to explore relations of

discursivity that are in function within the

realm of the text studied

2 Analytic philosophy: Inferences beyond

Hypothesizing

Analytic philosophy is that branch of

philosophy that investigates the scientific

methods implemented in different scientific

fields, and that dwells on the

epistemological fabric of mathematics,

logic, and a wide range of humanistic

disciplines It also comprises the intellectual

attitude and effort of the scholars and

theorists who are interested in the

epistemological problems of psychoanalysis

and the logic behind legal systems An

analytic philosopher performs a conceptual

investigation of the structure of the language

in which the concept studied is expressed

According to Fieser, analytic philosophy –

sometimes referred to as linguistic

philosophy – concerns itself with clarifying

notions through an analysis of language,

and, unlike the Hegelian tradition that

endeavours to construct "systems of thought

regarding the whole universe " (438), it

becomes "the logical clarification of

thoughts " (the Tractatus 4.112 in Fieser,

2020, P 438)

Emphasizing the logical analysis of

concepts, analytic philosophy is thus a

reaction against the holistic and the claimed

intricately interwoven relationship between

the mind and the world Seeking a more

objective method of analysis that pays heed

to the minute and simple details, it advocates

the idea that all philosophical propositions

should be open to discussion and logical argumentation In the Tractatus, Wittgenstein argues against the Hegelian dialectics and fixed points of reference He says, "we cannot infer the events of the future from those of the present Superstition

is nothing but belief in the causal nexus " (Wittgenstein, 1974, 5.1361, P 47) Analytic philosophy, thus, objects to the obfuscation that exists in the idealist tradition, and is after "simplex sigillum very"(4), and after reasoning and argumentation that are clear and simple and that proceed without preconceived notions

Analytic philosophy, and the discipline of modern symbolic logic that actually concretizes its theoretical thought, react against the empiricist tradition – and this, I claim, in spite of the fact that many theorists have indulged in an attempt to relate the analytic tradition to empiricism Empiricists hold that it is only through observation and experimentation that justified beliefs about the world can be gained In the Tractatus, Wittgenstein illustrates that,

Scepticism is not irrefutable, but obviously nonsensical, when it tries

to raise doubts where no questions can be asked For doubt can exist only where a question exists, a question only where an answer exists, and an answer only where something can be said (Wittgenstein, 1974, 6.51, P 88)

Thus, many intellectual problems, that lurk hidden beyond this body of perceptual date, can really escape analysis if one is to depend mainly on the empiricist method Pinpointing an epistemological weakness in the empiricist tradition, Morton illustrates that, "empiricism embodies a low-risk strategy: stick to the perceptual date It is low-risk in the sense that it avoids the danger of immediate false beliefs " (Morton,

1996, P 270)

Within the framework of analytic philosophy, and due to the methods of reasoning introduced by modern symbolic logic, the nature of inference, belief, and knowledge has been put under erasure Copi illustrates that modern symbolic logic – that makes use of symbols to facilitate the discourse about nature of arguments – begins by first identifying the fundamental logical connections on which deductive argument depends Using these connectives,

a general account of such arguments is given, and methods for testing the validity

of arguments are developed (Copi, 2009, P.315) The nature of a proposition, premises, and conclusions has thus been problematized

when approaching methods of logical

argumentation such as deduction, induction,

and abduction Tittle illustrates that "in the

case of a deductive argument, the conclusion

makes explicit whatʼs already implicitly

contained in the premises; it merely

articulates the logical implications of the

premises " (Tittle, 2011, P 61)

Turning topsy-turvy the way we look

at the ontology of deductive, inductive, and

abductive arguments, analytic philosophy

has radicalized our notions concerning

inference, justification, and belief Analytic

philosophers and logicians should, thus, look

at the internal and minute components of the

premises of an argument According to

Copi, "a general theory of deduction will

have two objectives: (1) to explain the

relation between premises and conclusions

in deductive arguments, and (2) to provide

the techniques for discriminating between

valid and invalid deductions " (Copi, 2009, P

315) In deductive arguments, that are both

sound and valid, one, thus, has to present a

linguistic structure that is valid and premises

that are true

Within the framework of analytic

philosophy and modern symbolic logic, the

nature of inference and the concept of

justified beliefs have been modified due to

the distinctions between deduction,

induction, and abduction Copi illustrates

that, "a deductive argument makes the claim

that its conclusion is supported by its

premises conclusively An inductive

argument, in contrast, does not make such a

claim " (Copi, 2009, P 26) The process of

reasoning, then, has to pay attention to the

soundness and validity of arguments that are

constituted of propositions, in order to allow

the cognitive operation of inference to take

place on a correct basis Whereas deductive

arguments move towards convergence and

inductive arguments still yield a high degree

of probability, the nature of abduction is still

enigmatic in away that can be considered an

epistemological challenge According to

Morton, referring to the nature of abduction,

The inference to the best

explanation…does not care where the

concepts come from, as long as the

explanation that uses them is a good one

They can come from experience, but

they can also come from the society

around us, from previous theories, or

anywhere at all (Morton,1996,P.272)

This web of logical requirements,

needed to present propositions that are

sound and valid, and come up with

arguments that are both valid and realistic –

and this as far as deduction, induction, and abduction are concerned – has actually questioned many of the rationalist, idealist, and empiricist premises concerning the nature of thought, justified belief, and knowledge The whole field of epistemology

is actually facing an intellectual impasse, due to the new methods of reasoning presented through analytic philosophy and modern symbolic logic, and this as far as its ontological being as well as its epistemic credibility are concerned

Logico-Philosophicus and the Reconstruction of Logic

The main concern of continental philosophy has been to establish truths that explicitly describe the facts of this world The correspondence theory of truth has been

a milestone and a trustworthy method of philosophical reasoning that can describe the totality of facts In its search for universal truths, classical philosophy looks at that which typically corresponds to reality as a truth In the Tractatus, however, the process

of inferring and verbalizing this correspondence has been problematized by Wittgenstein's analytic approach Revolutionizing the relationship between thought, language, and the world, the book pinpoints essential intellectual paradoxes in the logic of our argumentation and in the way continental philosophy presents its propositions The synecdochic character of the writing style of the Tractatus, implicitly, communicates the message that Wittgenstein

is not after a truth or a well-written philosophical doctrine Ishiguro illustrates that , "in the Tractatus, Wittgenstein does not

as a rule attempt to explain his own doctrines…Aphorism is his habitual form, both for challenging the doctrines of his contemporaries and for expressing agreement with them " (Ishiguro, in Block,

1983, P 43)

In the Tractatus, Wittgenstein reacts against Russell's theory of types For Russell, the theory of types can deal with logical paradoxes arising from the unlimited use of predicate functions as variables This predicate function is determined by the number and type of its arguments According to Ladov, "Russell developed the theory of types in which paradoxes were solved at the level of revealing correct forms

of thinking " (Ladov, 2019, P 38) In the Tractatus, Wittgenstein rejects the theory of types in favour of a hierarchical construction that analyses the logic embedded in different

statements Ishiguro explains that

Wittgenstein

thought that the theory of types

gives us two theses: (1) that a

proposition cannot make a statement

about itself; (2) that a propositional

function cannot take itself as an

argument These two theses were seen

by him as truths about symbolism or

language They tell us what can and

what cannot be expressed (Ishiguro,in

Block,1983,P.48)

Wittgenstein's hierarchy, however, is

different from Russell's One can use a

sentence to assert a proposition, and one can

also use two different sentences that are

made up of different words employing

different syntactic rules to assert the same

proposition For Wittgenstein, "the hierarchy

is not entered into language as some

artificial methodological project for

improving it " (Ladov, 2019, P 42)

Language, and its intricate web of syntactic

and semantic relations, imposes its own

rules Ladov, thus, explains that, for

Wittgenstein, the theory of types "is correct

but that it is useless We do not need it The

theory of types does not enter the hierarchy

into the language; the hierarchy is already

contained in it " (Ladov, 2019, P 42)

In the Tractatus, Wittgenstein presents

the idea that the world is made up of logical

atoms that must carry interconnective

properties His theory of logical atomism has

pinpointed miscellaneous hidden dimensions

in the relationship between the thought, the

world, and the language Wittgenstein

illustrates that, "one name stands for one

thing, another for another thing, and they are

combined with one another In this way the

whole group – like a tableau vivant –

presents a state of affairs " (Wittgenstein, in

the Tractatus, 1974, 4.0311, P 26) By

looking at the simple parts which constitute

an entity, Wittgenstein is annihilating the

role of a priori hypothesizing, and giving

room for unnoticed and simple detailes to

participate in the process of interpretation

Paying heed to "the simplest kind of

proposition… [that] asserts the existence of

a state of affairs " (Wittgenstein, in the

Tractatus, 1974, 4.21, P 36), Wittgenstein is

actually problematizing the procedures of

making inferences and presenting

propositions For him, it is not sufficient to

just name the object, but it is essential to

know its atomic logic and to situate the state

of affairs the object denotes in its context

The aforementioned idea of logical

atomism has brought about one of

Wittgenstein's most controversial

philosophical ideas; that of the picture theory of meaning McGuinness illustrates that the Tractatus is the "classic statement of

a realist semantics " and that "in [Wittgenstein's] picture theory, an explanation is given of how propositions have sense " (McGuinness, in Block, 1983,

P 60) Logic, thus, should clearly point out the logical connections between signifiers and signifieds, and, for Wittgenstein, the process of presenting the rules of logic should be as clear as possible Wittgenstein's controversial ideas have, thus, problematized the cognitive description of how the rules of logic should be verbalized, and challenged many concepts that have for

so long been taken for granted In his book

on epistemology, Audi explains that, "as closely associated as knowledge and justified belief are, there is a major difference… We should look at both concepts independently to discern their differences, and we should consider them together to appreciate their similarities " (Audi, 2005, P.4) Thus, belief, coherence, causation, reasoning, and inference are all terms that have to be revisited in the light of the intellectual challenges brought about by analytic philosophy and modern symbolic logic

In his article that investigates the influence of physics and mechanical engineering on Wittgenstein's philosophy, Simões points out that "the Tractatusʼ triumphant end is the decree of silence and mystical contemplation of the limits of language that presuppose the limits of the world, both components of the unspeakable sphere" (Simões, 2020, P 94) Creating an interstitial space between the necessity of revisiting the taken-for-granted philosophical and logical ideas and the inevitability of recognizing the limits of our thought and our system of representation, Wittgenstein's philosophical production succeeds in striking a balance between what can be said and what must be passed over in silence

Investigations And The labyrinth Of Language Games

Within the framework of Wittgenstein's analytic approach, any sort of metalanguage that gives itself the freedom to say when a proposition is well-formed is not welcomed All propositions and verbal forms of reasoning are deterritorialized and recontextualized Further developing his picture theory of meaning, Wittgenstein, in Philosophical Investigations, has deepened

the dynamic and highly complex

relationship between the thought, the

language, and the world Stenius illustrates

that, "one might state that Wittgenstein later

became dissatisfied with the picture theory

as it was presented in the Tractatus But this

does not mean that he rejected it or

considered it as one of the fundamental

errors in this book " (Stenius, in Block, 1983,

P 111) For Wittgenstein, the process of

how we recognize a sound as a word is a

basic question for language theorists and for

those who work in the field of

neurolinguistics(5), and is indispensable in

explaining how language and

communication take place

The cognitive process of the

assimilation of meaning is thus a multi

layered one Wittgenstein, in the

Investigations, elucidates that "our language

can be seen as an ancient city: a maze of

little streets and squares, of old and new

houses, and of houses with additions from

various periods " (Wittgenstein, in the

Investigations, 1986, P.8) Language,

sometimes, defies the rules of logic, and it,

so often, acts as a syntagmatic, as well as a

paradigmatic structure, simultaneously

According to Anscombe,

The main purpose of the opening of

the Investigations is to persuade us not to

look at the connection between a word and

its meaning either as set up or as explained

(a) by ostensive definition, or (b) by

association, or (c) by mental pictures, or (d) by

experiences characteristic of meaning one thing

rather than another, or (e) by a general

relation of reference or naming or designation

or signifying which has (logically) different

kinds of objects as its terms in different cases

(Anscombe, in Block,1983,P 154)

Our linguistic input is thus entangled

within the web of language games, and,

inevitably, all our perceptions, a priori

hypothesizing, introspection, reasoning, and

testimony-based beliefs should be

recontextualized Wittgenstein illustrates

that, "[he] shall also call the whole,

consisting of language and the actions into

which it is woven, ʻthe language-gameʼ"

(Wittgenstein, in the Investigations, 1986, P

5) The interstices between the moment a

sound is uttered and the moment in which

the sound is assimilated by a human mind

are invaded by heterogeneous factors that

ultimately destabilize not only the meaning

delivered but also the interpretation of it

Illustrating the relationship between name

and thing named, Wittgenstein says that,

This relation may also consist, among

many other things, in the fact that hearing

the name calls before our mind the picture of what is named; and it also consists, among other things, in the name’s being written on the thing named or being pronounced when that thing is pointed at (Wittgenstein, in the Investigations,1986,P.13)

It is, thus, the maze of a finite set of syntactic rules and sentence-types, that generates infinite words and sentences, is what envelopes our system of representation

Considered a magnum opus on the nature of logical reasoning, language and linguistic meaning, Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations is a turning point and an intellectual challenge for the history of ideas, the philosophy of science, and the exegetical approach to literary and non-literary texts According to Gakis,

"Wittgenstein's remarks in the Investigations may be viewed as not merely concerning the nature of linguistic meaning and human intentionality in a technical manner, but as

an investigation into the human condition, our selves, and our relations to other human beings" (Gakis, 2018, P 231) Becoming more down-to-earth in the Investigations, Wittgenstein, in his attempt to "rethink the purpose and point of philosophy such that it can meet our true and achieve needs" (Hutto,

2014, P 617), gives room to the human subject to act as an active participant in the process of meaning formation In the world

of the Tractatus, it is the triangle of the thought, the language, and the world In the world of the Investigations, "the human subject becomes central in Wittgenstein's later phase, not of course as a traditional dualist Cartesian subject, but as socially instituting acting subject" (Gakis, 2018, P 232)

5 Wittgenstein's Analytic Philosophy And Interpretive Strategies

Traditional theories of knowledge and critical approaches distinguish between a knowing mind, on the one hand, and the object of knowledge, on the other Within the framework of critical approaches that still give prominence to the transcendental subject, such as phenomenology(6) and hermeneutics, for example, there is no distinction between consciousness and the phenomenon In fact, all phenomena are ultimately contained in the very subjective act of experiencing something Phenomenology marginalizes questions about the objective nature of things, and calls for an exploration of phenomena more subjectively And hermeneutics elevates the role of the knowing mind as far as providing

interpretation for human experiences and

analysis of texts are concerned The

aforementioned argument presented by the

analytic approach represents a real challenge

for the intellectual basis of both

phenomenology and hermeneutics

Questioning the logic that codifies our

expression, Wittgenstein, in the Tractatus,

explains that, "what can be said at all can be

said clearly, and what we cannot talk about

we must pass over in silence" (Wittgenstein,

in the Tractatus, 1974, P 3) Casting light on

an epistemic area that lurks there beyond our

power of expression, analytic philosophy

poses an intellectual predicament for all the

disciplines that still believe in the

transcendental subject

The field of ontology has also

been subject to scepticism due to the

argumentation presented by analytic

philosophy and modern symbolic logic

concerning the ontological discourse about

the thing-in-itself Hutto illustrates that

Wittgenstein discards "such attempts to gain

traditional metaphysical knowledge of the

essence of things [because they] obscure and

obfuscate" (Hutto, 2014, P 618) Hegelian

dialectics, then, that follows a fixed point of

reference is greatly disturbed by the rules of

syntax and by the rules that are beyond the

logical structure of our linguistic input In

the Tractatus, Wittgenstein, indirectly,

shatters the philosophical basis of the

domain of ontology by drawing our attention

to the epistemological gap that exists

between the thing or the phenomenon and

their verbal representation He illustrates

that, "the whole modern conception of the

world is founded on the illusion that

so-called laws of nature are the explanations of

natural phenomena" (Wittgenstein, in the

Tractatus, 1974, 6.371, P 85)

Refuting the notion of the

Kantian subjective-objective doublet,

analytic philosophy has moreover,

radicalized the concepts of reason and

memory According to Han, "Wittgenstein

criticizes Russellʼs theory of logical types

for involving the idea that our language must

be anchored in extra-linguistic entities so

that it makes a meaningful combination of

signs" (Han, 2013, P 115) These extra

linguistic entities are the a priori conditions

that are visualized and verbalized by the

power of reason and human intellect For

Wittgenstein, however, the power of reason

is, often, misguided by the interplay of

signifiers and is, rarely, capable of

verbalizing the truth of a particular state of

affairs In the Investigations, Wittgenstein

says that, "language is labyrinth of paths You approach from one side and know your way about; you approach the same place from another side and no longer know your way about" (Wittgenstein, in the Investigations, 1986, P 45)

Recontextualizing the concept

of reason, analytic philosophy has, indirectly, problematized the concept of memory For Audi, for example, memory is not linked to or governed by the principle of causality He argues that,

Could one…have an innate belief? If so, this could be about the past but not memorially connected with

a past event, perhaps because the belief is possessed at the time one came into being and does not in any way trace to a remembered experience (Audi,2005,P.59)

Being an offspring of reason, memory, within the framework of analytic philosophy, is a mental capacity that can interact with the workings of the human mind, and can, I can claim, interfere in the processes of inference and presenting propositions and justifications The analytic philosophy’s revolutionary attitude towards many of the key concepts, such as, reason, memory, belief, and justification, has actually shattered many methods that have been made use of when one is to get indulged in a process of offering literary or non-literary interpretation In the Investigations, Wittgenstein, indirectly touches upon the issue of offering analysis and interpretation of a state of affairs He says that, "what is essential is to see that the same thing can come before our minds when

we hear the word and the application still be different Has it the same meaning both times? I think we shall say not" (Wittgenstein, in the Investigations, 1986, P 31) Within the framework of analytic philosophy, interpretive strategies applied to texts should proceed without a priori reasoning, without transcendental and extra-linguistic preconceived notions, and should pay heed to language-games that can actually reconstruct and redirect the interpretive strategies themselves

6 Conclusion

Wittgenstein's analytic philosophy and modern symbolic logic have problematized the epistemological, as well as the ontological, enterprises His thought has pinpointed an intellectual gap that exists between the thought, the language, and the world This gap has actually deterritorialized many philosophical concepts that have for

so long been taken for granted by the rationalist, the idealist, and the empiricist

philosophers One can claim that the depth

of his thought and his philosophical method

of revisiting the discipline of logic have

represented an intellectual paradox for

continental philosophy in general

Wittgenstein's concern about the conditions

that have to be achieved in order to construct

a perfect body of logic that explains the

enigmatic nature of language has placed a

variety of philosophical notions under

erasure His views about the nature of

propositions have brought about a process of

recontextualizing concepts such as

inference, belief, memory, reason,

perception, and introspection Believing that

our internal light of reason is entangled

within the web of language-games,

Wittgenstein has deepened our views

concerning many cognitive strategies The

processes of recognizing contradictions,

making inferences, thinking about thinking,

reasoning logically, making interdisciplinary

relations, among many others, have been

reevaluated and recontextualized by

theorists and philosophers concerned with

the philosophy of science and the field of

epistemology

Wittgenstein's intellectual

stance examines the status quo of a

particular state of affairs before the

contradiction is resolved, or not resolved

For him, "the philosophical ʻmustʼ is

nonsensical in all its variations"

(Engelmann, 2018, P 2) Thus, the main

task for philosophers and theorists is to look

deeply into the discursive practices that help

produce certain propositions, and further

into the source of ambiguities or ruptures in

the meaning delivered through a particular

text or a specific philosophical context

Wittgenstein's modern symbolic logic

reminds us that our system of representation

will always be imprisoned within the

boundaries of the pictorial language and the

perplexing effect of language-games It is,

however, the task of philosophy and logic to

step outside these boundaries in order to

represent the cognitive fabric of logic and to

recontextualize the methods used in

scientific and critical thinking For

Wittgenstein, this philosophical

investigation is incessant, eternally

recurring, and should never be enclosed

upon a definite signified

Within the framework of

Wittgenstein's analytic philosophy, the

nature of deductive, inductive, and abductive

reasoning has been problematized, and along

with it the process of textual exegesis With

a whole gamut of false propositions, false premises, or false conclusions that can, yet, formulate a valid deductive argument, one finds oneself questioning truth claims, and, inevitably, questioning the epistemic techniques of textual exegesis To escape this intellectual impasse, theorists and critics, as argued by Wittgenstein, should get involved in an act of theorizing , and not an act of formulating a theory This act of theorizing would allow enough room to dig for concepts that have for so long been unquestioned, to create space for ruptures to float on the surface, and to live the reality of our system of representation coming from itself and referring to itself

About the Author:

Ass Prof Alia Mabrouk is an associate

professor and Head of the Department of English, Faculty of Languages and Translation, Ahram Canadian University, Cairo, Egypt She specializes in literary criticism Her research interests include the problem of cognition, interpretation, and epistemology Her recent publications discussed the Intellectual problems of structuralism and post-metaphysical thinking, through the philosophical works of Michel Foucault, Gilles Deleuze, and Jacques Derrida

Endnotes

1 Archaeology: It is the term used by Michel Foucault in his seminal book The Archaeology of Knowledge The term is used to refer to the way systems of thought are constructed, and how knowledge is part of discursive formations that are in turn governed

by enunciative functions

2 Deterritorialized: deterritorialization is the term used by Gilles Deleuze in his book Difference and Repetition The term is connotative of a philosophical process of recontextualizing concepts, and not only investigating what a concept means, but also what it cannot mean

3 Logical atomism: For Fieser, "The complexity of facts [and relations between things] is matched by the complexity of language For this reason the aim of analysis is to make sure that every statement represents an adequate picture of its corresponding reality" (Fieser, 2020, P 440)

4 Simplex sigillum very: Wittgenstein uses this Latin expression in the Tractatus It means: simplicity is the sign of truth

5 Neurolinguistics: According to Pauranik, neurolinguistics, or cognitive neurolinguistics,

"studies the relation of language and communication to different aspects of brain function, i.e it tries to explore how the brain understands and produces language and communication This involves attempting to

combine theory from neurology /

neurophysiology (how the brain is structured and

how it functions) with linguistic theory (how

language is structured and how it functions)

Structure (hardware) and function (software) are

intricately interdependent and of equal

theoretical and practical importance" (Pauranik,

P 1)

6 Phenomenology: Commenting on Husserl

and how he marginalized the role of language

and its power to shape the lived experience,

Hanna says, "so for Husserl phenomenology has

an a priori foundation, and its basic truths are

synthetically necessary and a priori It may than

seem that Husserl is back safely in the Kantian

fold of transcendental psychology" (Hanna,

2020, P 58)

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